Redliners - David Drake - Sci-Fi military shock troopers against a death planet. One of Drake's best, and IMO that's saying something.

The Coldfire trilogy, by CS Friedman - A magic-wielding priest joins forces with a Dark Force to go after ... something worse. The characters are wonderful, and the setting is enough different from any other to be effectively 'unique'. Check out her other books too - very good reads.

"The Marriage of Heaven and Hell" by Blake. Weird, weird stuff, but beautiful in its own odd way. "Enough! or too much..."

A Cavern of Black Ice - First of a trilogy, and my attempts to describe it are failing. It's just a very vivid, very unique universe. With some minor spoilers: It's about the parallel stories of the clans of the north, modelled after the scotts it seems, and the containment of an evil that reminds me somewhat of Ragnarok.

Anything by Raymond E. Feist (Fairy Tale can use the same description as "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell").

The Coldfire trilogy, by CS Friedman - A magic-wielding priest joins forces with a Dark Force to go after ... something worse. The characters are wonderful, and the setting is enough different from any other to be effectively 'unique'. Check out her other books too - very good reads.

Woot, another Coldfire fan! That's where I got my handle from

...don't look at me like that

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson - The basic concept might be well known, but the pop-culture/Hollywoodish cliche doesn't do the original work justice. Not even close. Its really an exploration on the nature of Good and Evil and one's man own struggle in trying to control them. There's also a good bit to be said on the nature of addiction.

"Empire of the Ants" by Bernard Werber (original title: "Les Fourmis"): It's the first in an excellent trilogy (he's also written several other excellent books, but the ants trilogy remains my favorite).
A saga that we see from three angles: Events going on in human society, after the peculiar death of a genius scientist who was fascianted by ants; excerpts from he book he wrote, "The Encyclopedia of Absolute and Relative Knowledge"; and last but not least, events happeneing in the society of ants, including war between anthills and the mystery of an unknown weapon. And the events going on in human and ant society converge...Incredibly good stuff.

"A Conneticut Yankee at King Arthur's Court" (by Mark Twain): An American from the end of the 19th century somehow ends up in the Britain of the knights of the round table. Watch the clash between a mind from the Industrial Revolution and a society of the Dark Ages! Very funny.

One of my fav's is the Black Jewels Trilogy by Anne Bishop. It starts with Daughter of the Blood continues with Heir to the Shadows and ends with Queen of the Darkness.

You have a matriarchal society that has been slowly and completely twisted by those who were supposed to protect. Early on we get a prophecy that one will come to set things to right, dreams made flesh, and there have been many strong dreamers. We follow a trio of males and the young girl who fills the prophecy as she grows into her power.

Two warnings though, near the end of the first book there is a violent rape, and is treated as such. Second, you'll want all three books when you start to read it because they are that addicting and you'll want to know what happens next despite the fact that the book is at an end.

Moby Dick. Herman Melville. No description should be necessary. Long-winded and turgid by today's standards, but very vivid in places.

The Grapes of Wrath. John Steinbeck. Ditto. Possibly the greatest American novel ever.

The Nick Adams Stories. Ernest Hemingway. Published after Papa died, the book arranges his semi-autobiographical short stories more or less in chronological order. This was one of the books that got me started writing.

The Old Man and the Sea, also Hemingway. Incredible read. One man and a fish.

When the Legends Die. Hal Borland. A Ute Indian trying to kill his past.

My Dad's a big fan of Dickens and is always after me to get through A Tale of Two Cities, but it just keeps sitting on my shelf.